Caught Off Guard

They left that place and passed through Galilee. Jesus did not want anyone to know where they were, because he was teaching his disciples. He said to them, “The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men. They will kill him, and after three days he will rise.” But they did not understand what he meant and were afraid to ask him about it.

Mark 9:30–32‌

‌As Jesus and His disciples pass through Galilee, it appears that they are already journeying south towards Jerusalem and towards Jesus’ crucifixion. Jesus is fully aware of this and takes pains to prepare His disciples for what's ahead. That’s why He tries to keep their location a secret, so He can give the disciples some private instruction.

And what is it that Jesus teaches them? He says, “The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men.” The original language is more forceful than the English. Literally, it says the “Son of Man is delivered” as though it had already happened. Jesus is emphasizing how suddenly His death will come. He will be betrayed, delivered into the hands of men, and killed. Then, He will rise from the dead. And all of this will happen soon.

But in spite of the pains Jesus took to prepare them for His coming crucifixion, when the time came the disciples were still caught off guard. They were sleeping just before Jesus was arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane. Peter thought he was ready to suffer with Jesus, but he found out he wasn’t ready to in the courtyard of the high priest where he denied Jesus three times. And after the crucifixion, it wasn’t the disciples but the chief priests and the pharisees who remembered that Jesus had said He would rise from the dead and placed a watch on His tomb... not the disciples. It seems like the disciples really didn’t expect Jesus to rise from the dead at all, otherwise they would’ve been there on the third day waiting to greet Him.

There’s a lesson here for us. The disciples were living in the last days of Jesus’ earthly life. He had told them again and again what was going to happen, yet they were still caught off guard. We live in the last days before Jesus’ second coming. Scripture tells us again and again what will happen when Jesus comes back. 1 Thessalonians 4:16–17 says, “For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.”

And Scripture tells us to be ready. In Matthew’s gospel Jesus commands us to “keep watch… [to] be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.” (Matthew 24:42–44) Don’t make the same mistake the disciples made. Don’t be caught off guard. Live in light of Jesus’ imminent return.